


Getting Some Rest

by softkent (SalazarTipton)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, Drabble, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idk what to tag this tbh, Kinda, M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Sharing Clothes, parse positive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 17:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8456290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalazarTipton/pseuds/softkent
Summary: There’s a box under Jack’s desk. When he works on a paper, he’ll kick his feet up on it. Everybody that comes in doesn’t notice it. If they did, it just looks like some miscellaneous box of whatever. Nothing special. They wouldn’t think anything of it. No one knows that battered, footprint covered cardboard box is Jack’s lifeline. On his hardest days and in the surreal, dark hours when his insomnia hits, he opens it up and is able to breathe.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've become obsessed with the idea of Jack wearing one of Kent's jerseys to comfort himself and now I need to write it 500 different ways, don't mind me.

There’s a box under Jack’s desk. When he works on a paper, he’ll kick his feet up on it. Everybody that comes in doesn’t notice it. If they did, it just looks like some miscellaneous box of whatever. Nothing special. They wouldn’t think anything of it. No one knows that battered, footprint covered cardboard box is Jack’s lifeline. On his hardest days and in the surreal, dark hours when his insomnia hits, he opens it up and is able to breathe.

* * *

 

Everyone knew to leave Jack alone for a while after a loss. Sometimes that made him a little self-conscious. The team was so aware of him--changing their habits for his benefit. Jack reminded himself that that’s what people do. They learn each other, care for each other, give each other what they need. It’s okay. It’s normal. 

 

A loss was always tough to swallow, ever more so when it happened on your own turf and on top of that, a shutout? 

 

Jack winced when he shut the door to his room a little harder than he meant to. He set his bag down next to his desk and stripped down. He wanted to get out of the locker room as fast as possible, so he skipped the showers. He tapped out something on his phone before setting it on his desk and going into the bathroom. 

 

His shoulders were tense enough to ache--something Jack was all too familiar with. The water was just on the safe side of scalding which had his skin tinged pink, but did help his shoulders some. 

 

He leaned against the tile and stretched out his quads. The rest of his muscled were going to be sore in the morning from all the work he did on the ice tonight. Jack let himself focus on the sting and burning of the water and his stretches until they were all that were left in his head. 

 

He heard Shitty come in to brush his teeth, but Jack didn’t say anything. He stuck his face under the stream and watched the water pour down off of his face. 

 

_ Shhhhhht!  _ There was a rush of cold and Jack looked up. He wasn’t surprised to see Shitty standing there, having pushed open the shower curtain. 

 

Shitty gave him a smile before he reached in and turned the hot water knob down a tick. 

 

“Goodnight, my dude. You played well tonight. It’s a team sport.”

 

“Goodnight, Shitty.”

 

“Love ya!” Shitty called over his shoulder as he went back into his own room.

 

Jack didn’t bother closing the curtain. Instead, he turned the water off and grabbed his towel. He couldn’t avoid bed forever. 

 

Once he was dried off enough and had a pair of boxers on, he checked his phone again. There were a few emails from the Campus Activities Board about next week’s events, which he deleted. Jack sent a quick  _ merci _ to the encouraging text from Papa about getting the next one. 

 

He flicked off the light, plugged in his phone on his nightstand, and curled into the blankets on his bed. Sleep would be good. Jack knew he needed the rest if he wanted to be functionally at practice in the morning. 

 

A half an hour went by. Then an hour. Jack huffed into his pillows. He knew at this rate it would be better for him to just get up and do something rather than lay there getting nothing done. All he was doing was running over the game, how he could have done better, what he could have avoided.

 

He looked over to the nightstand when his phone lit up. 

 

_ Kenny: Rough game. You okay? Call if ya need _

 

Great. Kent had caught some of the stream. Jack pulled the string on his lamp and squinted his eyes for a moment as they adjusted. He rubbed them as he thought out how to respond. Kent knew him. So, lying or downplaying this wasn’t going to do anything, but piss him off.

 

_ Calling Kenny . . .  _

 

“Hey,” Kent said when he answered. 

 

“H-” Jack cleared his throat. “Hey.”

 

“Did I wake you up? It’s, like, past midnight there.”

 

“No, I, uh, couldn’t sleep,” Jack admitted.

 

Jack stood up and walked over to his desk and sat down at his chair.

 

“Do you wanna talk about it or do you wanna be distracted?” Kent asked. Jack heard a faint meow and Kent’s fumbling with the phone.

 

“Hi, Kit,” Jack said.

 

“She’s been so needy tonight!” Kent whined. “Jack says hi, princess.”

 

“She takes after you, eh?” 

 

“Really? You’re gunna chirp me at this hour? After the day I’ve had?” 

 

Jack smiled and shook his head. “It’s not even ten there.” he sighed. “What kind of day have you had?”

 

“Oh, you better buckle up because this is a journey!”

 

He listened to Kent’s exaggeration of his day, which Jack didn’t think was too bad, but to Kent every little thing was the world out to get him. Something is going on with his car, Kit puked up her breakfast right in front of the door, practice didn’t go well, the Aces wouldn’t stop chirping him for how he said syrup, and...and...and... 

 

By the end of Kent’s story, Jack was laughing and smiling. 

 

“And now Kit is even mad at me because I gestured too much and moved the pillow she was on. Who’s gunna snuggle me now? How can I be expected to not pout my way through the night without someone to snuggle?” 

 

“Well, I can think of someone that could help, but he’s a little far away at the moment,” Jack offered.

 

“Really? Who? I can’t think of a single person that isn’t right next to me that would want to snuggle me all better.” Jack could hear the smirk in his voice.

 

“Oh, I’m sure there must be  _ someone _ willing to put up with you.”

 

“Jack Laurent! Your snark is not appreciated.”

 

Jack laughed. “You’re one to talk, Kenneth.”

 

“That’s not even my name and you know it.”

 

Their conversation went on for another twenty minutes. They talked about nothing and chirped each other all the way through. Jack was relaxed in their familiar banter. He didn’t think back to the game and all the could haves. Instead, he laughed and smiled and made fun of his boyfriend. 

 

“Shit, I didn’t realize how late it was,” Kent said after a long yawn.

 

“You have early practice. Get to bed,” Jack insisted.

 

“But Jack, I  _ am _ in bed.”

 

Jack shook his head. Why did he love this little fucker? “Okay, then get some sleep.”

 

“You gunna be okay, big guy?” Kent asked in a soft, unsure voice. 

 

“Yeah, I am,” Jack whispered. He bent down and nudged the lid off of the tattered box under his desk. “You always help. Thank you.”

 

“Babe, you don’t need to thank me. Bothering you at fuck-o’clock is, like, my sacred duty,” Kent murmured. He sounded like he had face planted in his pillow mid way through his sentence.  “ _ Je t’aime. _ ” 

 

He smiled wide. “ _ Je t’aime aussi.  _ ‘Night.”

 

When Kent hung up, Jack set his phone on his desk and bent down to go through the box. He took out the jersey that was sitting on top and set it beside his phone. He pushed aside a year book and a few pucks with the games dated on them in search of something buried deep on the bottom: Kent’s cologne.

* * *

 

Two birthday’s ago, Kent gave Jack his present after they were alone in the living room after his parent’s had gone upstairs to bed. They had a rule about presents: it must be heartfelt. With all the time they spent apart from Jack being at school and Kent traversing the country playing games and living all the way out in Las Vegas, they didn’t have a lot of time to be cute and romantic and  _ gushy _ , as Kent had put it. 

 

Jack opened the bag. Inside was a well-worn Aces jersey and a black box. He lifted up the jersey to see it was the one Kent had before he made captain. He looked at Kent with his eyes and mouth both open wide, unsure of what to say and surprise. 

 

“There’s another part,” Kent said with a nod to the bag.

 

Jack pick up the black box and turned it over: a new bottle Kent’s cologne.

 

“I know I can’t be physically there all the times you need me or just want to be held or just need some comfort or something, so I thought this could help a little. Ya know, having a little piece of me to curl up in when you need it,” Kent explained as he fiddled with the sleeve of the jersey on Jack’s lap. 

 

He quickly set down the bottle and grabbed the back of Kent’s neck to pull him into a kiss. Jack leaned his forehead against Kent’s and opened his eyes. He blinked away some of the moisture that was pooling on his waterline to see Kent’s eyes better.

 

“It’s perfect,” Jack whispered. 

* * *

Jack found the half-empty bottle of cologne, uncapped it, and held the jersey out in front of him to spritz it. He quickly put the bottle back, covered the box back up, and shoved it back into place with his foot before getting up to check that his door was locked.

 

On his way back to his bed, he slipped the jersey over his head and pulled the collar up over his nose. Jack took in a slow breath and let the scent wash over him. 

 

He climbed back into bed, plugged in his phone, and shut off the light before curling back into his blankets. Maybe he could get some rest tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think in the comments, I'd love to know! Kudos are greatly appriciated!
> 
> Feel free to come find me on [tumblr](http://softkent.tumblr.com)! I'm doing nanowrimo in fics and am always up for prompts and suggestions!


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